We are delighted to announce our support for the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot, a vital initiative highlighted in the President's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. This initiative aligns with our commitment to broaden AI research and spur innovation by providing greater computing resources to AI researchers and engineers in academia and non-profit sectors. We look forward to contributing to the pilot and sharing insights that can help inform the envisioned full-scale NAIRR.

The NAIRR's objective is to democratize access to the computational tools essential for advancing AI in critical areas such as safety, reliability, security, privacy, environmental challenges, infrastructure, health care, and education. Advocating for such a resource has been a longstanding goal of ours, one that promises to equalize the field of AI research and stimulate innovation across diverse sectors. As a commissioner on the National Security Commission on AI (NSCAI), I worked with colleagues on the committee to propose an early conception of the NAIRR, underlining our nation's need for this resource as detailed in the NSCAI Final Report. Concurrently, we enthusiastically supported a university-led initiative pursuing a national computing resource. It's rewarding to see these early ideas and endeavors now materialize into a tangible entity.

In a major stride toward building a shared national research infrastructure, the U.S. National Science Foundation has launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program with significant support from NVIDIA. The initiative aims to broaden access to the tools needed to power responsible AI discovery and innovation. It was announced Wednesday in partnership with 10 other federal agencies as well as private-sector, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. "The breadth of partners that have come together for this pilot underscores the urgency of developing a National AI Research Resource for the future of AI in America," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "By investing in AI research through the NAIRR pilot, the United States unleashes discovery and impact and bolsters its global competitiveness."

NVIDIA's commitment of $30 million in technology contributions over two years is a key factor in enlarging the scale of the pilot, fueling the potential for broader achievements and accelerating the momentum toward full-scale implementation. "The NAIRR is a vision of a national research infrastructure that will provide access to computing, data, models and software to empower researchers and communities," said Katie Antypas, director of the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at the NSF. "Our primary goals for the NAIRR pilot are to support fundamental AI research and domain-specific research applying AI, reach broader communities, particularly those currently unable to participate in the AI innovation ecosystem, and refine the design for the future full NAIRR," Antypas added.

Today the Supervisory Board of ASML Holding NV (ASML) announces that it intends to appoint Christophe Fouquet, currently ASML's Chief Business Officer and member of the Board of Management, as the company's next President and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment is subject to notification of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 24, 2024. On the same date, ASML's Co-Presidents Peter Wennink and Martin van den Brink will retire from ASML upon completion of their current appointment terms.

Nils Andersen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said: "The Supervisory Board, together with the management team, has gone through a comprehensive succession planning process. With Christophe, we have identified a very experienced leader with deep understanding of ASML's technology and the semiconductor industry ecosystem - acquired through different roles at ASML and other companies - and the right leadership qualities and culture fit. We are grateful and full of admiration for the immense contributions that Peter and Martin have made over decades, helping to shape ASML into the successful company that it is today. Peter and Martin have been preparing ASML for the future, and we know they will be fully engaged in securing a smooth transition for the company and all of ASML's stakeholders."

Underscoring NVIDIA's growing relationship with the global technology superpower, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang Monday evening. The meeting at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg—as the Prime Minister's official residence in New Delhi is known—comes as Modi prepares to host a gathering of leaders from the G20 group of the world's largest economies, including U.S. President Joe Biden, later this week.

"Had an excellent meeting with Mr. Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA," Modi said in a social media post. "We talked at length about the rich potential India offers in the world of AI." The event marks the second meeting between Modi and Huang, highlighting NVIDIA's role in the country's fast-growing technology industry.

Blizzard Entertainment has once again refuted claims that their blockbuster (online only) action role-playing game, Diablo IV, is coming to Xbox Game Pass at some point in the future. PicPay, a Brazilian payment app, has been displaying adverts presenting Blizzard's latest ARPG as a current prospect on the Microsoft game subscription service. Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra was quick to shoot down this rumor as it hit news site—in a reply to Game Pass Tracker (on Twitter) he succinctly stated: "This is not happening." A couple of media outlets are now reporting that the Diablo IV advertising banners have been removed from the PicPay app.

Ybarra's career includes a twenty year stint at Microsoft—he was Corporate Vice President of Gaming prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment back in 2021. His former colleague—Xbox boss Phil Spencer—made clear (last September) his company's ambitions for several Acti-Blizz franchises, under conditions of a successful acquisition of the publishing group: "We intend to make Activision Blizzard's much-loved library of games - including Overwatch, Diablo and Call of Duty - available in Game Pass and to grow those gaming communities." Microsoft is inching closer to finalizing the proposed merger, so it will be interesting to see whether Blizzard will break with tradition when the new management steps in.

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce shared the Biden-Harris Administration's strategic vision to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain through CHIPS for America investments. To advance this vision, the Department announced a funding opportunity and application process for large semiconductor supply chain projects and will release later in the fall a separate process for smaller projects. Large semiconductor supply chain projects include materials and manufacturing equipment facility projects with capital investments equal to or exceeding $300 million, and smaller projects are below that threshold.

The announcement leads into the Biden-Harris Administration's Investing in America tour, where Secretary Raimondo and leaders in the Administration will fan across more than 20 states to highlight investments, jobs, and economic opportunity driven by President Biden's Investing in America agenda and the historic legislation he's passed in his first two years in office, including the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.

Jim Ryan, the current President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has once again confirmed his company's committal to staggering the launch of PlayStation ports onto the PC platform. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu published an interview last week, and western news outlets have spent time over the past weekend translating and analyzing this article. The contents/discussion focuses mostly on Sony Corporation's strategies for its PlayStation 5 console in their native market. Ryan addresses the interviewer's question about the growing popularity of gaming on PCs in Japan (the nation has historically favored home console platforms): "I think that's a very good thing. When considering the multifaceted development of game IP, PCs are indispensable for allowing more people to enjoy games in a variety of ways. I think (that) more is better."

Ryan was asked about the possibility of simultaneous first-party game launches on PS5 and PC platforms in the future - his answer points to the company not deviating from its normal operating strategy: "We also fully understand the importance of PS5 exclusive titles. As I mentioned earlier, PlayStation Studios' main responsibility is to make games for the latest PlayStation hardware that players will enjoy. We are increasing the number of PS5 exclusive games, and staggering the release of the PC versions." Ryan claims to have received positive feedback from gamers about this matter: "I often have the opportunity to ask game fans for their opinions, and when I ask them how they feel about the time lag, they often say they feel the release of a PC version two or three years after the release of the PlayStation version is acceptable. It's a community that we should cherish the most. We will continue to listen to the voices of game fans and develop various titles in a multifaceted manner."

It was widely reported yesterday that Phil Harrison has left Google, where he served a stint as Vice President and General Manager of the now shuttered Stadia cloud-based game streaming service. An official statement has not been released by Google or Harrison regarding a change in leadership - according to an article published by Business Insider, the latter's LinkedIn profile indicates an end date in April 2023. Harrison's departure from Google coincides roughly with the final shutdown of Stadia services back in January of this year.

Phil Harrison was announced as a new vice president and general manager at Google in early 2018, but the company had not revealed any plans to enter into the games console market at that point in time. The hiring of Harrison was viewed as an early preview of things to come, given his past experience of leadership roles at both Sony and Microsoft video games division. He spent 16 years of his career at Sony Corporation, ultimately becoming president of the company's Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) until departing in 2008. He joined Microsoft in 2012, following short spells at Infogrames, Atari and Gaikai. At Xbox he was the executive leader of the European Interactive Entertainment team until 2015. Google debuted its Stadia gaming platform in 2019, and to no surprise, Harrison was announced as the product manager for this new endeavor.

On Monday 27 March U.S. President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act in order to form a budget of $50 million, to be spent on domestic and Canadian production of printed circuit boards (aka PCBs). This move was deemed as important to matters of national defense, and technology has been cited as key part of North American security efforts. In a memo issued that day, Biden stated that without presidential action under the act: "United States industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the capability for the needed industrial resource, material, or critical technology item in a timely manner."

PCBs form the basis of vital components that are integrated into military-purpose missiles and radars, in addition to electronics utilized for energy distribution and the nation's healthcare. The President continues to outline the importance of the Defense Production Act: "I find that action to expand the domestic production capability for printed circuit boards and advanced packaging is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability."

The Biden-Harris Administration through the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology today launched the first CHIPS for America funding opportunity for manufacturing incentives to restore U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, support good-paying jobs across the semiconductor supply chain, and advance U.S. economic and national security.

As part of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, the Department of Commerce is overseeing $50 billion to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry, including $39 billion in semiconductor incentives. The first funding opportunity seeks applications for projects to construct, expand, or modernize commercial facilities for the production of leading-edge, current-generation, and mature-node semiconductors. This includes both front-end wafer fabrication and back-end packaging. The Department will also be releasing a funding opportunity for semiconductor materials and equipment facilities in the late spring, and one for research and development facilities in the fall.

We're about to enter the third month of the year and after last week's loaded release schedule, it appears that we're back to more of an average week of new game releases. This week's AAA title is an RPG game from Japan and we also decided to include a DLC in this week's roundup, simply because it's for a very popular game which often has over 100k PC players online, not taking console players into account.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty / This week's AAA title / Friday 3 March
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a dramatic, action-packed story of a nameless militia soldier fighting for survival in a dark fantasy version of the Later Han Dynasty where demons plague the Three Kingdoms. Players fight off deadly creatures and enemy soldiers using swordplay based on the Chinese martial arts, attempting to overcome the odds by awakening the true power from within.

Eurocom is launching the PCI Express 4.0 based Superlaptop 17.3" Nightsky TXi317 powered by Intel 12th generation i7 and i9 mobile processors. Supercharged by the latest generation HM670 Intel chipset, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3070Ti graphics, up to 16 TB of RAID0/1/ storage and 64 GB memory, the Nightsky TXi317 delivers an impressive level of performance in a 2.6 kg lightweight laptop form factor.

"The EUROCOM Nightsky TXi317 combines Intel 12xxx series mobile processors, up to i9-12900H, with NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3080Ti or RTX 3070Ti graphics in a 17.3" laptop form factor that weighs under 2.8 kg / 6.16 lbs is a remarkable feat that our customers are extremely excited about. It offers incredible performance and mobility!" Mark Bialic, Eurocom President. The EUROCOM Nightsky TXi317 comes with Intel HM670 Chipset, enabling the fastest PCIe 4.0 for NVMe, GPUs and Thunderbolt 4.0 The EUROCOM Nightsky TXi317 superlaptop offers an extraordinary balance of customization at time of purchase, user upgrade-ability, performance and mobility. It provides powerful platform for both gamers and for creative professionals and engineers.

In President Biden's first year in office, the Biden-Harris Administration has implemented an industrial strategy to revitalize domestic manufacturing, create good-paying American jobs, strengthen American supply chains, and accelerate the industries of the future. These policies have spurred an historic recovery in manufacturing, adding 642,000 manufacturing jobs since 2021. Companies are investing in America again, bringing good-paying manufacturing jobs back home. The construction of new manufacturing facilities has increased 116 percent over last year.

Today, President Biden will sign into law the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which will build on this progress, making historic investments that will poise U.S. workers, communities, and businesses to win the race for the 21st century. It will strengthen American manufacturing, supply chains, and national security, and invest in research and development, science and technology, and the workforce of the future to keep the United States the leader in the industries of tomorrow, including nanotechnology, clean energy, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. The CHIPs and Science Act makes the smart investments so that American to compete in and win the future.

The industry has been undergoing significant changes in computing. Application specific hardware acceleration is becoming commonplace and new memory technologies are influencing the economics of computing. To address the need for an open architecture to allow full industry participation, the OpenCAPI Consortium (OCC) was founded in 2016. The architecture that was defined allowed any microprocessor to attach to coherent user-level accelerators, advanced memories, and was agnostic to the processor architecture. In 2021, OCC announced the Open Memory Interface (OMI). Based on OpenCAPI, OMI is a serial attached near memory interface that provides low latency and high bandwidth connections for main memory.

In 2019, the Compute Express Link (CXL) Consortium was launched to deliver an industry-supported cache-coherent interconnect for processors, memory expansion, and accelerators. In 2020, the CXL and Gen-Z Consortiums announced plans to implement interoperability between their respective technologies, and in early 2022, Gen-Z transferred its specifications and assets to the CXL Consortium.

As The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 heads to President Biden's desk for his signature, following its passage in Congress, OSTP's Dr. Alondra Nelson is releasing the following statement: "The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is the most significant American investment in science, technology, and innovation in a generation. It will revitalize and advance U.S. leadership in science and technology, spur U.S. competitiveness and economic development, and bolster our domestic semiconductor supply chains. Most important, it will deliver opportunities for Americans all across the nation.

For working Americans, the stakes of this legislation could not be higher. Semiconductor chips power our daily lives, from the telecommunications that keep us all connected, and medical devices that keep our loved ones alive, to financial institutions that help secure our families' futures, and the computers from which millions of Americans run their businesses. They are a door to a future of innovation, progress, and economic security.

Today, during Mobile World Congress 2022, Qualcomm Incorporated President and Chief Executive Officer, Cristiano Amon highlighted how Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is continuing to bring best-in-case experiences to enterprise PCs and drive the convergence of the PC and mobile to increase productivity, connectivity, and security from anywhere. During last month's Consumer Electronics Show, the Company announced that over 200 enterprise customers were testing or deploying Windows 11 on Snapdragon laptops and 2-in-1 devices. Today, Amon outlined how strategic relationships with Microsoft, Lenovo, and many other ecosystem leaders are helping deliver the next generation of enterprise-ready PCs, powered by Snapdragon. Utilizing its global relationships, Qualcomm Technologies continues to lead the PC industry's inevitable transition to innovative and modern solutions from the portfolio of Snapdragon compute platforms.Quotes from key collaborators that Qualcomm Technologies is working with to drive innovation for always on, always connected enterprise PCs through Snapdragon Compute Platforms can be found here.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce the achievement of a new overclocking world record for fastest memory frequency at DDR5-8888 CL88-88-88-88, in cooperation with ASUS. This amazing frequency speed was achieved by the extreme overclocker "lupin_no_musume" with G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5 memory, ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 APEX motherboard, and Intel Core i9-12900K processor. To see the moment this amazing overclocking world record was set, please click the following video link: https://youtu.be/OgQFbUOs6i8

DDR5-8888 CL88-88-88-88 - Pushing the Speed to the Limit
At the dawn of the DDR5 era, G.SKILL and ASUS have been constantly exploring the memory speed limitations of the latest Intel Z690 platform. Surpassing the previous DDR5-8704 world record in November 2021, a new memory frequency world record is achieved at DDR5-8888 under liquid nitrogen extreme cooling. The memory speed has been validated by CPU-Z. Please refer to the screenshot and validation link below: https://valid.x86.fr/qgvylc

The Taiwanese President, Tsai Ing-Wen, told local media that she believes that Taiwan can become self-sufficient when it comes to semiconductor equipment, although this is obviously not something that would happen overnight. A large part of why this has even been considered seems to be the current pandemic, as although Taiwan might not have suffered much from the pandemic itself, the nation has suffered when it comes to imports, as just in time production and delivery systems have broken down, which has affected most industries in Taiwan.

In 2021 Taiwanese semiconductor companies invested some NT$1 trillion (~US$36.3 billion), of which 70 percent was in equipment, according to the President, with around NT$600 billion (~US$21.8 billion) of that money being towards imported equipment. It also shows that local semiconductor equipment makers have a lot of work to do, especially if they're intending to catch up with their international competitors. The President also mentioned that the local semiconductor equipment industry grew by 28.7 percent in 2021, although it was still relatively small at NT$116.7 billion (~US$4.2 billion), but she was quoted as saying that she's 100 percent certain that Taiwan has the ability to make all semiconductor equipment the [local] industry needs.

IBM today announced its new 127-quantum bit (qubit) 'Eagle' processor at the IBM Quantum Summit 2021, its annual event to showcase milestones in quantum hardware, software, and the growth of the quantum ecosystem. The 'Eagle' processor is a breakthrough in tapping into the massive computing potential of devices based on quantum physics. It heralds the point in hardware development where quantum circuits cannot be reliably simulated exactly on a classical computer. IBM also previewed plans for IBM Quantum System Two, the next generation of quantum systems.

Quantum computing taps into the fundamental quantum nature of matter at subatomic levels to offer the possibility of vastly increased computing power. The fundamental computational unit of quantum computing is the quantum circuit, an arrangement of qubits into quantum gates and measurements. The more qubits a quantum processor possesses, the more complex and valuable the quantum circuits that it can run.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers (Hong Kong Stock Code: 1337), today unveiled three new additions to its Productivity range with the new Pro Click Mini wireless mouse, the Pro Type Ultra wireless keyboard, and the Pro Glide XXL mouse mat. The new Pro range features multi-device wireless connectivity, extended battery life, and a quieter sound profile. Coupled with Razer's expertise in producing high-performance, durable, ergonomic hardware, the new Pro range delivers the ideal work, home office, or mobile peripherals for today's flexible workspace locations.

As people continue to work from home, high-quality keyboards and mice have become more important to increase productivity and ensure a smoother, faster workflow. The new Pro range from Razer features the latest in hardware and software technology, honed from Razer's years of experience producing pro-level gaming devices. Combining industry-leading ergonomic designs with modern, sleek styling and high-performance gaming technologies, the Pro range delivers the comfort, battery-life and precision to enable users to win at work.

VMware today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, effective June 1, 2021. An industry veteran, Raghuram is a strategic business leader who currently holds the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Products and Cloud Services at VMware.

"I am thrilled to have Raghu step into the role of CEO at VMware. Throughout his career, he has led with integrity and conviction, playing an instrumental role in the success of VMware," commented Michael Dell, chairman of the VMware Board of Directors. "Raghu is now in position to architect VMware's future, helping customers and partners accelerate their digital businesses in this multi-cloud world."

Today Epic Games announced that it completed a $1 billion round of funding, which will allow the company to support future growth opportunities. Epic's equity valuation is now $28.7 billion.

This round includes an additional $200M strategic investment from Sony Group Corporation, which builds on the already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces their shared mission to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services. Other investment partners include Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, GIC, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Park West, KKR, AllianceBernstein, Altimeter, Franklin Templeton and Luxor Capital. Epic continues to have only a single class of common stock outstanding and CEO Tim Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder of the company.

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously selected Cristiano Amon to succeed Steve Mollenkopf as CEO, effective June 30, 2021. Mollenkopf informed the Board of his decision to retire as CEO following 26 years with the Company. Amon, who has worked at Qualcomm since 1995, is currently President of the Company. Mollenkopf will continue his employment with the Company as a strategic advisor for a period of time.

Mollenkopf, 52, became CEO in March of 2014. He began his career as an engineer and, for nearly three decades, has helped define and lead Qualcomm's strategy and technology roadmap. His work helped propel smartphones into the mainstream and made Qualcomm a leader in 3G, 4G and now 5G, and he also oversaw the expansion into new industry segments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), RF Front End and Automotive. He was also instrumental in the Company's rise as a smartphone technology supplier. In addition, Mollenkopf successfully guided the Company through a number of extraordinary circumstances and challenges and begins the CEO transition process with the Company stabilized and well-positioned to continue to grow and drive value.

SiFive, Inc., the leading provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP and silicon solutions, today announced it raised $61 million in a Series E round led by SK hynix, joined by new investor Prosperity7 Ventures, with additional funding from existing investors, Sutter Hill Ventures, Western Digital Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Intel Capital, Osage University Partners, and Spark Capital.

"Global demand for storage and memory in the data center is increasing as AI-powered business intelligence and data processing growth continues", said Youjong Kang, VP of Growth Strategy, SK hynix. "SiFive is well-positioned to grow with opportunities created from data center, enterprise, storage and networking requirements for workload-focused processor IP."

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) Friday awarded a USD $10 billion contract to Microsoft to build the JEDI Cloud (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), a massive piece of connected IT infrastructure that seeks greater electronic integration within the U.S. Military, and prepare it for emerging forms of warfare. According to the New York Times, Amazon was the front-runner for the contract, having executed similar infrastructure contracts for the CIA. The NYT comments that President Donald Trump's spat with The Washington Post, a paper owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, could have affected Amazon's bid. Some of the biggest American cloud companies participated in the bidding, which include Amazon AWS, Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Oracle.